


Home Fire Burning

by verus_janus (Methleigh)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-22
Updated: 2012-05-22
Packaged: 2017-11-05 19:29:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/410175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Methleigh/pseuds/verus_janus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is one bright thing at Spinner's End.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home Fire Burning

Spinners End was not warm. It was not cheery. The ban on magic had removed the shine from everything his mother would have liked to quicken with her touch. Certainly it had removed the shine from Eileen.

The ban on the signs and signals of anything muggle and popular had removed the shine from everything his father wanted to share with his only son like smiling secrets. Certainly it had removed the shine from Tobias.

Severus studied his maths, history, science and English in front of the fire up to the end of junior school. Six years in muggle schools to make up for the seven he would spend at Hogwarts.

He liked the fire not just for its cheeriness and its warmth, not even for the white noise it provided to cover the sound of arguments and angry banging. It glowed, and not like the brutal stark glint of the bare light-bulb in his bedroom. The coal, with its black chalkiness and its distinctive scent that permeated the small house, became a friend. Lit, it glowed deeply with life, ever-changing, sometimes sparking or crackling as if it were trying to talk to him. The orange was the most vivid thing in his entire world and he liked to pretend it was magic.

Sometimes, alone, he would alter it and play with it using his tiny creative magic effects, as if they were working together. He knew the fire was science within itself, but it was still special.


End file.
